News from Affiliates

The Centre for Environmental Rights turns 3!

On the 2nd of April three years ago, the Centre for Environmental Rights had just opened its doors.

The first office was tiny, in Observatory, Cape Town. We had one staff member, one part-time volunteer, a telephone, a computer, some donated furniture and books, a website, one funder – and a mission: getting environmental rights onto the agenda, and providing the legal support that our stakeholders articulated so passionately in the consultation that preceded our establishment.

In these past three years, the Centre has grown from an idea to an organisation of which we are equally fond and proud. Our attorneys, interns and other staff have traveled far and wide in South Africa, meeting with organisations, activists and communities, and witnessing some of the environmental injustices that scream out for a remedy; they have drafted court papers, stared down opposition attorneys, stood up to antagonistic company representatives and unhelpful officials; they have stated their case in Parliament, to government departments, on radio, in newspapers, on our website, and on social media; they have researched the law and uploaded many, many acts and court judgements onto our virtual environmental law library; they have written funding proposals and reports to donors; they have washed dishes, and planted an office garden on a concrete slab. This is an extraordinary and growing group of people, inspired by the idea that everyone really has and should have those rights set out in section 24 of the Constitution:

Everyone has the right to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being; and to have the environment protected, for the benefit of present and future generations, through reasonable legislative and other measures that prevent pollution and ecological degradation; promote conservation; and secure ecologically sustainable development and use of natural resources while promoting justifiable economic and social development.

Today we’ve celebrated the Centre’s third birthday with a big chocolate birthday cake, and also with the start of a new look for our website – we invite you to watch our website change and grow over the next few weeks, and we look forward to your comments and inputs.

Most importantly, we thank all our stakeholders, clients, funders, board members and partner organisations for their support over the past three years – without you, we would surely not have come this far. The battle for the realisation of environmental rights has only just begun, and much, much work remains. Happy 3rd birthday, Centre for Environmental Rights!

News from Affiliates

27 March 2013 was the closing day for comments on the draft Infrastructure Development Bill, introduced by Minister of Economic Development Ebrahim Patel in the National Assembly last month, and designed to facilitate designation, authorisation and implementation of the special infrastructure projects (SIPs). Developments that can be declared as SIPs include all major infrastructure works of “significant economic or social importance” or that would “contribute substantially” to any government infrastructure development strategy, and expressly includes mines, oil and gas pipelines, refineries, and power stations – all developments that pose high risk to the environment.

On 14 April Northern Farm's 2 000 Bovelder cattle go under the hammer. The Bovelder breed has been developed over decades on Northern Farm and it has played a major role in the beef industry, providing thousands of top quality genetic breeding stock all over Southern Africa.

The hazardous mining by-product raises two questions – who’s to blame and who should pay.
The acid mine drainage crisis is going to cost someone a lot of money, but probably not the people who caused it. The “polluter pays” principle was next to impossible to apply to the acid mine drainage problem in a retrospective way, said Marius Keet, chief director for mine water management at the department of water and sanitation.

The Federation for a Sustainable Environment is proud to announce the launch of the booklet titled “Rehabilitation of Mine Contaminated Eco-Systems. A Contribution to a Just Transition to a Low Carbon Economy to Combat Unemployment and Climate Change” by Mariette Liefferink of the Federation for a Sustainable Environment (FSE). The booklet was commissioned by the Alternative Information and Development Centre (AIDC) in collaboration with the Friedrick Ebert Stiftung.

Last week, the coalition of eight civil society and community organisations that has been resisting the proposed coal mine inside a protected area and strategic water source area in Mpumalanga launched further proceedings in the Pretoria High Court.

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